2007-08 Celtics

[Starchild]

I'm gonna agree with Starchild here. 7 games against not that much talent

I'm trying to figure out why the Raptors are considered "not that much talent"... we took the Celtics to OT damnit

Oh, I'd consider the Raptors to be talented. In fact, to me, they're still the top of the division until the Celtics show me something special. But if people want to argue about the Celtics greatness, they should beat teams like Toronto, New Jersey, Denver... teams that are good, but aren't the top-tier teams, which are basically the Pistons, Bulls, Spurs, Mavericks, Suns and I'd also include the Rockets and Jazz.

[nolegboy]

It's stupid yet it does what it aims to...gets people talking about and reading an ESPN article.

This won't even be a top 5 or 10 Celtics team let alone best ever.

Folks can argue until they're blue in the face about which single-season team is the best ever....but for my money you can throw this year's Celts against the 72 win Bulls in a best of 25 and the Bulls would win the series 13-1...not even close.

Best ever?? 66-9 down the stretch with a championship and it's theirs, baby!

[DG_ThenNowForever]

Even Bill Simmons isn't saying that the Celtics are among (and certainly not THE) best ever. Were the hot-starting Suns of a couple seasons ago the best? The Mavericks?

I neither read nor watch ESPN, but even still, they still manage to piss me off. How stupid.

And I'm pretty sure we can all agree that the 96 Bulls would tear this team apart, right?

[DDR]

In a 7-game series, I see those Bulls winning the series 4-2, unless Jordan is sufficiently pissed that some people are calling these Celts the best team ever. If he is, it's a sweep, and we'll get at least a baker's dozen "eff you" dunks. Rodman would be the key to the series. If he can effectively contain KG, which twosome do you think takes over? MJ and Pippen or Allen and Pierce? Not even close.

I want someone to simulate the series and then the Celts can challenge the Bulls, followed by a sweet training montage and a showdown at Madison Square Garden.

[BaltimoreFan]

I'm not much of an NBA fan, but I do think the Celtics are quite overhyped. Besides the big 3 do they have any real depth? I have a few friends that like the Wizards so I occasionally watch them. They have been rely on just 3 guys (for the most part) for a while now, and it has only really gotten them so far. This past season it really hurt them when injuries came into the picture. I realize that Allen, Pierce, and Garnett are much better than Arenas, Butler, and Jameson, but I think a lack of depth could hurt them the same. I wouldn't be surprised if the Celtics didn't even make the NBA Finals.

[infrared41]

I neither read nor watch ESPN, but even still, they still manage to piss me off. How stupid.

And I'm pretty sure we can all agree that the 96 Bulls would tear this team apart, right?

I'm the same way. If it isn't a live game on ESPN then I'm not watching it yet they still manage to invade my airspace and bug the living out of me.

And yeah the 96 Bulls, the 85, 87-88 Lakers, The 81, 84, 86 Celtics, 89-90 Pistons, probably the 95 Rockets, and pretty much any team between 1979 and 2000 that won a ring would beat these Celtics. Sorry but I can't compare a team that's 7 games into a season to anything other than the other teams in the league right now, and it's probably too soon to even do that.

[Brass]

Just letting you guys know that Cedric Maxwell is already labeling Kevin Garnett as the 2nd greatest Celtic of all-time behind Bill Russell....

[TFoA]

It's stupid yet it does what it aims to...gets people talking about and reading an ESPN article.

This won't even be a top 5 or 10 Celtics team let alone best ever.

Folks can argue until they're blue in the face about which single-season team is the best ever....but for my money you can throw this year's Celts against the 72 win Bulls in a best of 25 and the Bulls would win the series 13-1...not even close.

Best ever?? 66-9 down the stretch with a championship and it's theirs, baby!

OMG. The 95-96 Bulls would ANNIHILATE this year's Celtics. Rodman would've out rebounded half of that team and KG easily, Pippen would've been on Paul Pierce like red on a stop sign, and these are the only words that need to be said: Michael Jordan on Ray Allen. Like you have any doubt who'll consistently win that exchange. Hell, the Big 3 of the Bulls were better than this Big 3, BY FAR, and they weren't even considered to be a Big 3. That's how you know hype is out of control, when a combination of 3 players supposed to be the "greatest of all time" isn't even better than a combination of 3 players on a team that aren't even normally lumped together.

[leedsunited]

More b.s. ESPN hyperbole. Toss it with the assorted crap the network spews on a consistent basis now.

[Telemundo219]

Hey ESPN, take a chill pill! These Celtics are nowhere being one of the greatest Celtic or NBA teams ever. This is just another way of the media over exaggerating a story to raise viewer ratings/interest.

[AndrewPF]

That 95/96 Bulls team was amazing... I went to see them on January 18th and just had to keep the lineup card that lists them as 32-3.

they were great, so great in fact that i remember them even though i was so young at the time!

[BCBoy]

The only Celtics game I've watched this year is when they played the Raptors.

The Raptors played like crap for 2 and a half quarters and still managed to get force them into OT when the Raptors lost it.

The Celtics' bench has been better than I expected, but who knows how long that'll last.

This is just ESPN trying to stir conversations just like this one. They did their job.

[The Nation]

Celtics 8-1, lost to Orlando 104-102. Celtic bench scored a grand total of 18 points. Celtics outrebounded Orlando 41-28, and outshot them 53% to 50%, and still lost.

[Eye]

That 95/96 Bulls team was amazing... I went to see them on January 18th and just had to keep the lineup card that lists them as 32-3.

they were great, so great in fact that i remember them even though i was so young at the time!

Oh my god!

[Starchild]

Celtics 8-1, lost to Orlando 104-102. Celtic bench scored a grand total of 18 points. Celtics outrebounded Orlando 41-28, and outshot them 53% to 50%, and still lost.

I love it.

Now ESPN needs to analyze that and compare it against the real top teams in the league. The Detroits, San Antonios, etc. that can not only outscore the Celtics as the Magic can, but have more depth, can outrebound the Celtics (or at least narrow the margin) and can hold the Celtics to below 50% shooting.

I know I hate the whole "if" scenario a lot, but just for argument's sake, if one of the big-3 were injured (as they are prone to be throughout the season), this game isn't even close. Minus KG, Pierce or Ray Allen and the Celtics likely lose this game by 15-20 points.

[In 5..4..3..2..1]

Starchild being a Knick fan right now must be tough but if you watched any of the C's game yesterday you would know that they were down by 20 points at the end of the half do to foul trouble on Garnett. The second half the Celtics absolutely dominated the Magic. If they play that game again I have no doubt they would pull in out. Alot of teams in the NBA pack it in when they are down by a bunch on the road. What they did yesterday impressed me more than any of the 8 wins. It shows the charcater this team now has and it will pay dividends late in the year in the playoffs . Is this the greatest team of all time? NO. Could it be the best team in the league this year ? Yes. Shout out to Isiah!!!!! Everything that guy touches turns to crap. CBA, Toronto Raptors, and now the Knicks!!!!!!!! Can you say Lottery Baby!!!

[rams80]

Starchild being a Knick fan right now must be tough but if you watched any of the C's game yesterday you would know that they were down by 20 points at the end of the half do to foul trouble on Garnett. The second half the Celtics absolutely dominated the Magic. If they play that game again I have no doubt they would pull in out. Alot of teams in the NBA pack it in when they are down by a bunch on the road. What they did yesterday impressed me more than any of the 8 wins. It shows the charcater this team now has and it will pay dividends late in the year in the playoffs . Is this the greatest team of all time? NO. Could it be the best team in the league this year ? Yes. Shout out to Isiah!!!!! Everything that guy touches turns to crap. CBA, Toronto Raptors, and now the Knicks!!!!!!!! Can you say Lottery Baby!!!

Let's see how they fare against San Antonio, Dallas, Phoenix, Detroit, and Cleveland before we hoist a championship banner now, shall we?

[Starchild]

Starchild being a Knick fan right now must be tough but if you watched any of the C's game yesterday you would know that they were down by 20 points at the end of the half do to foul trouble on Garnett. The second half the Celtics absolutely dominated the Magic. If they play that game again I have no doubt they would pull in out. Alot of teams in the NBA pack it in when they are down by a bunch on the road. What they did yesterday impressed me more than any of the 8 wins. It shows the charcater this team now has and it will pay dividends late in the year in the playoffs . Is this the greatest team of all time? NO. Could it be the best team in the league this year ? Yes. Shout out to Isiah!!!!! Everything that guy touches turns to crap. CBA, Toronto Raptors, and now the Knicks!!!!!!!! Can you say Lottery Baby!!!

Ha ha ha. Don't bother with the Knicks shots... it's shooting fish in a barrell. Besides, nobody gives it to Isiah Thomas, James Dolan, Stephon Marbury and the rest of that awful roster like Knicks fans.

On that note, I will make a side comment and defend Isiah in one facet... the man is the BEST draft evaluator in the league. If I were the owner of a team... ANY team... I would do my best to employ Isiah Thomas as a scout or a consultant in the NBA Draft. Damon Stoudemire, Marcus Camby, Tracy McGrady, Trevor Ariza, David Lee, Nate Robinson, Renaldo Balkman. Not to mention trading for then-benchwarmer Jermaine O'Neal and turning him into an all star and bringing in Ron Artest and helping him become one of the top defenders and a double-double threat. When it comes to finding untapped talent, there's nobody better. The only problem is giving him the check book. So no, everything that guy touches doesn't turn to crap. In fact, much of what he touched turned into either All Star talent, Rookie of the Year talent or solid rotation players. And believe you me, the problem in NY doesn't start with Zeke. That's Jimmy Dolan's mess. The New York Knicks starting on a downward spiral about three years before Zeke was employed.

Now, onto the Celts. I would've loved to have watched their game, but it was only televised either locally in Florida, Massachusetts or NBA TV, so I got shafted in that respect. Anyway, so KG was in foul trouble early and were down 20? What does that say about the team? One of their all stars goes down, either due to injury or foul trouble and the depth on that team just isn't capable of consistently picking up the slack, even against a mid-playoff contender in Orlando, who have their own issues. I'm assuming KG was guarding Dwight Howard, and that is what led to his early foul trouble. Understandable, it's going to happen to every big man this year and for years to come. But who is there to pick up the slack... not to stop him, but to just try and do damage control? And let's not gloss over this 20 point deficit. That's not due totally to KG's foul woes. He wasn't going to drop 20 points by halftime to cover that deficit. The fact that they cut the deficit as close as they did speaks to the character of the team, which was never in question. That's a team with three veteran all stars and other veteran role players like Posey and Scalabrine with some playoff experience. They wouldn't pack it in.

The point is, the Celtics will likely win more of these kinds of games than they'll lose. But that's because the majority of these types of games will likely be against teams of the same calibur as Orlando. They can lose focus and allow a comeback to happen. But what happens when KG goes up against Tim Duncan, Rasheed Wallace or Amare Stoudemire and gets into foul trouble? When the Celts go down by 20 to one of those teams at halftime, will they be able to mount that kind of a comeback against proven playoff mainstays like those teams and win one out down the wire? At this point, I sincerely doubt it. And unfortunately for Boston fans, those are the games that are going to matter most.

[TFoA]

But what happens when KG goes up against Tim Duncan, Rasheed Wallace or Amare Stoudemire and gets into foul trouble?

Not like he was that effective against them when he played them on a regular basis. I can still recollect KG getting sonned by all 3 of those guys when he was in the west.